A Rewrite of Chloe's 'Redemption' In Malediktator
by The Author Has Quit Writing
Summary: A rewrite, because I think it sucked. I wanted to see redemption, not crocodile tears. R&R please


**Howdy y'all! It's Kitty again, bringing you something I've never done before, a salty rewrite. Why? Because I was disgusted with that pitiful story Chloe was given in Malediktator. Did Chloe actually get redeemed in any way? No! All we got was a 'tragic backstory' and crocodile tears. Did Chloe actually learn anything, which carried** **over to the next episode? No! Is she still a nasty person, especially to Sabrina, come the next few episodes? Yes. Does she make any consistent effort to change her behaviour? No. So, here I go. Re-writing the scenes from Malediktator I hated.**

Marinette sighed as she yo-yoed her way to Master Fu's house, in need of a Miraculous to give to someone. Once again, an akumatised person was terrorising Paris, and once again, Chloe Bourgeois' nastiness was the cause. Today, her father had become the target of her temper, after she'd demanded to have the school closed, and to move to New York with her mother.

She landed gracefully by the door, saying, "Spots off!" before going inside. Master Fu was there, as always, with Wayzz.

"Looks like we've got another akuma," he began, "Do you need a miraculous again, Marinette?"

"I'm afraid so, Master Fu," she responded, "No prizes for guessing who caused it this time."

"I understand," he responded, "You may take a miraculous. As always, when the task is complete, you must retrieve the miraculous, and return it to me."

Master Fu went to get the Miracle Box, taking it from the gramophone, and putting it before Marinette. The box, and the drawers opened, revealing all of the miraculouses. Marinette's hand hovered over the bee miraculous, hesitant to take it.

"I know which one I need, but the real question is, who do I give it to?" she said aloud.

"You have plenty of people you could give it to," Tikki replied, "Alya, Nino, Juleka, Rose"-

"Everyone I know's been put under Makediktator's spell. Alya, Nino, even my parents," she sighed, "And I have no idea where Adrien is. He's not picking up when I call."

Her face fell. "I can't just give it to some random person, though," she sighed, "How would I know if I can trust them? I need someone to use this miraculous, but my only option left is..."

Tikki paled. "Marinette, that can't mean"-

"It doesn't look like I have a choice," she sighed, "It's gonna be a really, really tall order, but if it's my only hope at saving Paris, I have to try."

Tikki nodded. "I'll put my blind faith in you just this once, Ladybug."

Marinette landed atop the roof of Le Grande Paris, finding Chloe standing there. All she could hope for was that for once, Chloe would be honest with her. There had to be at least one good bone in her body. There had to, or else her miraculous was as good as gone.

Naturally, when Chloe saw her coming, she freaked out. Her idol, coming for her, was an absolute dream come true.

"Ladybug? What are you doing here?" she began, practically buzzing on her toes, "Oh, I guess it doesn't matter, not now you're right here in front of me!"

Marinette shook her head. "Yeah. Listen, Chloe. I have a very big favour I need you to do for me"-

"Yes, anything for you, Ladybug!" she squealed, "Just say the word"-

"You have to listen to me," she responded, "Before I tell you what it is, I need to know why your father was akumatised."

Chloe pouted. "And why would I know about that?"

Marinette folded her arms, a stern expression working its way across her face. "Don't lie to me, Chloe."

"What? Don't call me a liar!" she cried, "There's no way I'd know why daddy was akumatised!"

"I'm not buying it," Ladybug said sternly, "If you want to do this, you have to tell me the truth."

"Ok, ok, I'll tell you," she spat, "There was...Something he couldn't do."

Ladybug grabbed her by the shoulders. "This is serious, Chloe!" she scolded, "Paris is in grave danger! I don't have time to be messed around, not today!"

Chloe shook at the finality of Ladybug's tone. The last thing she wanted was to be on Ladybug, of all people's bad side. Her idol couldn't abandon her. She wouldn't let her abandon her. Not again.

"It was me," she eventually said, "I...I hurt my daddy's feelings, because I wanted to leave Paris, forever."

Ladybug folded her arms. "And why did you want to leave?"

"I made this fake interview for school, about me and Ladybug, and everyone made fun of me for it, especially this one girl, Marinette," she continued, "I don't blame her, though. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, looking back on it."

"I'm sure Marinette didn't mean it like that," she sighed, "But face it Chloe, you can't make a badly-produced fake video about Ladybug, and expect people to like you, or take you seriously for it. Especially not when you've been nasty to those very people, including Marinette."

Chloe turned away from her, sighing. "Marinette...I shouldn't even be upset about her," she answered, "Face it. I've been awful to her. I've been awful to everyone, even to my only friend. I deserved everything she said to me today."

Ladybug's face screwed up. "If you know you've been awful, then why"-

"It's so ridiculous. I'm ridiculous for doing it," she responded, "But the reason for...Everything I do, it was all because I wanted my mom's attention."

Marinette froze, unused to seeing Chloe looking this...Vulnerable. It was true that Chloe was a bad person, but it was, in a way, clear to see who she'd gotten it from, even if Audrey wasn't around to influence her. "Chloe?"

"Mom never even looked at me, when I was little," she continued, "I'd try to play with her, or give her presents, or tell her her I loved her, but none of it worked. It was always, 'Mommy's too busy', or 'later', or 'go away'."

Ladybug rubbed her temples. "That's Audrey Bourgeois, alright..."

"I thought if I started acting like her, she'd pay attention to me, or love me, but it didn't work, and she still doesn't even know my name," she whimpered, "I've done so many awful things, and hurt so many people, and it's all been for nothing. And the worst part is, now it's too late for me to stop, and everyone thinks I'm the nastiest person in Paris."

"Chloe?"

She looked back at her. "Ladybug?"

She put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm gonna be honest with you. You can't take back any of the bad things you did," she said softly, "The people you did everything to are gonna remember them forever. They'll never go away."

Chloe bowed her head. "Then, what am I supposed to do?"

"The only thing you can do now, is make sure you never hurt anyone like that again," Ladybug said seriously, "You have to stop. No more bullying. No more treating your friend like a slave."

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I don't know, Ladybug. I don't know if I can," she responded, "I'm so used to being like this, it's practically autopilot for me now. I just"-

"You have to try. Listen to me. Your actions have more of a consequence than you think," Ladybug continued, "Because of you, people get so upset, that Hawk Moth can get in and akumatise them. Because of you, Paris is under constant threat."

Chloe paled, mouth open, like the world had just shattered beneath her. "You mean...Is everything Hawk Moth does my fault?"

Ladybug shook her head. "Not all of it, but a lot of it is," she replied, "Excluding Hawk Moth himself, you've caused more akumas than anyone else in Paris."

The girl shook, for about thirty seconds. And then she began to bawl, pitifully, making her makeup run. It was a horrible sight, she knew, but she didn't care. "Ladybug, I'm so sorry!" she sobbed, "How can I even call myself your biggest fan, if all I'm doing is causing problems for you?"

Marinette turned her back to her. "It's true, you've done nothing but cause problems for me so far," she responded, "But I've been pushed into...A difficult situation right now, and I need your help. I'll give you one chance, and if you want to start redeeming yourself, you have to take it."

She wiped her eyes again, staining her sleeve. "I want it."

Marinette held out the box. "This will only be for now, but I'm giving you the Bee miraculous. It grants the power of immobilisation."

Chloe nodded. "You need me to be a superhero, with you?"

"Just for now. When the job is done, you will give the miraculous back to me," she continued, "Understood?"

Chloe nodded, opening the box. "I won't disappoint you, Ladybug!"

-—~-

Chloe comitted herself to behaving, all weekend. She didn't throw any tantrums when she wanted something from daddy dearest. She was polite to her butler. She didn't shove anyone out of the way when she went shopping.

And on Monday, when Sabrina came to pick her up for school, she decided she needed to be better to her little servant. It was going to be a pain, having to do everything by herself from now on, but it was Ladybug's orders. She had to be better. No more meanness, no more akumas caused by her, and no more problems for her idol.

"I've got your homework from last night all done and dusted, and I'll take your bags today, because I know you hate carrying those things around," Sabrina began, "After that, I'll make a copy of Adrien's schedule, and then"-

Chloe held her hand up. "No, Sabrina. You don't have to do that. I'll carry my own things."

"What?"

"You're not my slave, and it's time I stopped treating you like one," she sighed, taking her bag back.

The ginger girl was slightly confused, but she kept on nonetheless. "Oh, ok. But this means I'm still doing your homework later, right?"

Again, Chloe was left tempted to slip back into her old ways. Advanced physics were so boring. "No. I'll do it myself. It's my homework, not yours."

Sabrina's face fell. "Why? Does this mean...Don't you want to be friends anymore?"

Chloe bowed her head. "What it means is...Well..." she swallowed, unsure if it was really what she wanted still, but if Sabrina had been willing to stick by her for this long, it had to be worth a shot, "I think...Let's try being friends, for real. The kind of friends that go to the movies together, and share tables at lunch, and all of that."

The ginger's face lit up. Truth be told, she was a bit jealous of the dynamics everyone else had with their friends. She wanted to hang out, without being expected to wait on anyone, but she'd never had the courage to ask that from Chloe. "I'd like that."

"But don't get too comfortable, or anything," Chloe added, "I mean, if I find you too boring, I can ditch you for someone else whenever I want, so you'd better shape up!"

Sabrina rolled her eyes. Chloe still had a long way to go, but this was a good start. At least she was making an effort.

At school that day, a lot happened, a lot that Chloe could easily have slipped up on, and caused an akumatisation with. Nathaniel was caught doodling himself as a superhero in class again, this time saving Marc. But Chloe didn't say a word. Mylène freaked out over accidentally getting ketchup on Ivan's shirt at lunch. Chloe didn't say a word. Marinette and Adrien were put in a pair for a class activity. But still, Chloe didn't say a word.

It seemed that Chloe's new resolve was unbreakable, until the end of the day. A first-year student accidentally rammed into her, getting fluorescent green paint from their art homework all over her top.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!"

Chloe bit her lip, growling softly, as she balled her fists. The reflex response was on her tongue already. Everything in her wanted her to scream and shout and go, 'Watch where you're going, loser, your daddy could never buy you a top like this in a million years, not that you'd deserve a top like this, anyway'! But then she remembered Ladybug. What she said, and how being mean to people would only get them akumatised. How being mean once could get the whole of Paris put in danger.

"It's fine. It was an accident," she said shakily, exhaling, "I'll get Daddy to send my drycleaning bill to you later."

"You...You're not mad at me?"

"Not now, I'm not," she said, "But I will be, if you don't pay my drycleaning bill."

The student was left standing there, in complete shock, as Chloe walked away, meeting Sabrina by the doors. "Move it," she demanded, "There's a sale on at the jewellery store, and we are NOT letting Mireille grab those pearl earrings before me!"

Sabrina nodded. "O-ok..."

A smile came to Chloe's face. "If we get there within ten minutes, I'll buy you that super-cute brooch I know you wanted," she added, "You do want it, don't you? So get moving!"

The ginger girl smiled. "Right away!" she replied, following Chloe outside.

"Looks like something's gotten into Chloe," Alya remarked, "Did Malediktator give her brain-damage, or something?"

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"Today she's been acting...Not terrible," she replied, "I mean, sure, she hasn't been good today, but it's a lot better than what she's normally like."

"Agreed," Marinette replied.

"What do you think happened?" Adrien said, "Something drastic must've happened, to make her want to change."

"Wish I knew," she responded, "But whatever it was, it's great that she's finally making an effort to stop being a bad person. It's more than about time."

"I know," Alya added.

"You took a big risk, giving a miraculous to Chloe Bourgeois, of all people," Master Fu said coldly, "You might as well have put one in the hands of Hawk Moth himself."

"I didn't have a choice," she responded, "If there were someone, anyone else I could have given it to, I would have."

"I suppose it doesn't matter now. Paris is saved," he replied.

"This was just a one-time thing, Master. I'm not giving Chloe a miraculous ever again, unless it's an emergency, like today," she continued, "It isn't safe, given her awful reputation. But, I think something has changed about her."

Master Fu raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"At school today, she didn't make fun of anybody, not even Mylene, when she freaked out over getting ketchup on her boyfriend's shirt," she responded, "And she wasn't ordering her little servant Sabrina around at all."

Master Fu's eyes widened slightly. "It does sound like she's changed," he responded, "But only time will tell if this will last."

"You're right," she replied. She really hoped that it would, though. If Chloe truly, and honestly wanted to be a better person, she'd keep making changes, and stick to 't she?


End file.
